Grants to fund creative science lessons

MUNCIE – Students at local schools will observe earthworms, launch model rockets and track the fate of cookies through the digestive system thanks to grants for creative classroom projects.

The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County recently awarded Robert P. Bell grants totaling $1,692 to local teachers for the fourth grant cycle of the 2014-15 academic year.

Bell Grants of up to $450 are awarded to teachers with innovative ideas, programs or projects designed to stimulate learning in their students.

Recipients and their projects are:

• Chris Rodgers, West View Elementary School, $280 for elementary students to build and launch model rockets. Students will additionally be able to demonstrate proper safety procedures based on Model Rocketry Safety Code, describe Newton’s three Laws of Motion, and create a plan for fin placement.

• Laura Harris, Cowan Junior-Senior High School, $350 for junior high and high school science and chemistry students to create chemical compounds that have a neutral charge using Lego blocks. Additionally, once students have made their compounds, they will use them to balance chemical reactions using dry erase boards.

• Stephanie Lennon, Wapahani High School, $225 for high school anatomy and physiology students to construct a model of the human digestive system using cooking aprons and an array of artistic materials. Students will wear their aprons to make cookies in the consumer science kitchen in order to help visualize food moving through their own digestive system and write a three-page creative paper on the fate of the cookies.

• Lance Brand, Delta High School, $448 for high school biology students to actively investigate the role of DNA, mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, amino acids, and the ribosome in the processes of genetic transcription and translation. Students will investigate by creating a 3D model of DNA from colored foam core parts, translate the DNA message into mRNA, and then mRNA will be read in their constructed ribosome.

• Darlene Hill, Storer Elementary School, $389 for kindergarten students to be introduced to the world of earthworms through various cross-curriculum techniques. Students will observe earthworms’ behaviors in a Worm-Vue Wonders habitat, create an earthworm home and participate in hands-on experiments. Additionally, students will read literature about earthworms and model the earthworms’ life cycle as well as compare and contrast earthworms and gummy worms.

The application deadline for the next round of grants in the 2015-16 academic year is Oct. 1. For more information about Bell Grant applications, contact Suzanne Kadinger, vice president, at skadinger@cfmdin.org. Information is also available at www.cfmdin.org.